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United States Patent | 6,237,051 |
Collins | May 22, 2001 |
A unique data label is affixed to each tracked asset and a unique data label for each location in the enterprise, both real and virtual locations. Location history data of the asset is related to other asset data in a relational data base. Assets typically include system components down to the least repairable/replaceable unit (LRU). The data label, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, is a code label using a code that ensures each label is unique to the asset or location to which it is attached. Here the word location is an inclusive term. It includes the geographical location and the identity of the building in which the asset is housed. Location also includes the identity of the system of which a component is a part and, if relevant, location within the system. It includes also any real or virtual location of interest for subsequent analysis and is ultimately defined by the nature of the system being tracked. People assigned to install, upgrade, maintain, and do other work on the system are identified and this identifying data is entered into the data base along with each activity performed on the system and its components. Preferably, in response to a scanned asset label, a menu of allowable activities is presented so that the person assigned to do a task associated with the asset can easily make entries into the data base of the code assigned to the task performed. With asset data, asset location, and task record (including the person performing the task), entered into the relational data base, it is relatively easy to track the components of complex systems in a large enterprise over time and build complex relational records.
Inventors: | Collins; David Jarrett (Duxbury, MA) |
Assignee: | Data Capture Institute (Duxbury, MA) |
Appl. No.: | 120807 |
Filed: | July 23, 1998 |
Current U.S. Class: | 710/36; 702/84; 705/8; 705/22; 710/1; 710/240 |
Intern'l Class: | H04L 012/28; G06F 017/60; G06F 017/30; G06F 003/00; H04M 003/42 |
Field of Search: | 705/8,22 710/1,36,240,241 700/266 340/825.54,572,825.35,432 361/683 235/454 455/39 707/203 709/218 702/84 379/201 345/339 |
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Foreign Patent Documents | |||
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